


Of Favors and Old Friends

by RiddleBlack



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: F/M, Merlin is a whiny asshole, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 11:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4664316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiddleBlack/pseuds/RiddleBlack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin hadn’t known exactly what Roxy was planning and had just assumed that it would be another dinner date. He couldn’t have been more wrong.</p>
<p>In which Roxy drags Merlin from his comfy office and into the pew of a stranger's wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Favors and Old Friends

Though he would deny it to his very grave, Merlin was very much a homebody. He very rarely left his office (Someone had to keep these morons alive) and when he did, his home wasn’t that far away. Hell, most of the time, he didn’t even bother to go home, considering there were several bedrooms in H.Q., so why bother leaving just to come back a few hours later? This mind set didn’t change when he met Roxy Morton.

Well… that’s what he liked to tell himself. He certainly preferred to stay home rather than go out, but that didn’t stop Roxy from forcibly yanking him from his desk, making him go home to shower and change before she whisked them off God knew where. Merlin had since learned not to question such things and to just let them wash over him like a massive tidal wave. This was one of those times. After about two weeks of work with only going back to his actual home a handful of times, Roxy had had enough.

“Merlin, go home. Shower and change, we’re going out, alright? I had one of your suits pressed, so you can wear that.” She explained as she tugged him from his seat and stared guiding him to the door, snatching the clipboard from his finger tips when she saw that he was still scribbling at it. “Enough work. You’re on break for the rest of the day.”

Merlin frowned at that. “Percival is still in Cambodia and Gawain isn’t back f-”

Roxy pressed an index finger to his lips, staring down his raised eyebrow at the action. “Harry’s taking your spot for the day.”

Merlin pulled away at that. “Harry’s ancient. How is he going to know how to work the technology, he can barely manage his land line.”

“Harry is only three years older than you, Merlin. Besides, Eggsy will be helping him, he’ll manage.” She was thankful for the compartment doors as they automatically shut, considering Merlin’s horrified expression at the idea of the two of them working his control center. “Now, relax, alright? This will all be fine.”

Merlin sighed and settled back in the seat as they were rushed back to the tailor shop. He just needed to let this happen as it did and all would go well.

* * *

It was not going well.

Merlin hadn’t known exactly what Roxy was planning and had just assumed that it would be another dinner date. He couldn’t have been more wrong. When he went to pick Roxy up he noticed that she was carrying a rather large box along with her purse. He got out to help her and placed it in the back seat before opening the passenger door for her. Soon enough, they were back on the road and following Roxy’s directions.

“What’s the gift for?” Merlin inquired, eyes trained on the road.

“Why don’t we wait until it’s too far for you to turn around to tell you?” Roxy replied evenly, “Take a right up here.”

“Roxy-”

“I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. My friend, Veronica, we were very close in university, is getting married and I knew you were going to be needing to get out of H.Q. soon…”

“Ro-”

“Take a left at this next intersection. We’re going to her wedding, Merlin, alright? I would have gone myself, but you’ve been stuck at that desk for far too long, longer than I usually let you stay there, so I’m taking you with me to socialize with people other than those you deal with every day of the year. I won’t lie and claim you’ll make new friends or anything, but at least you will talk and get to know some people like everyone else does instead of just searching through some top secret government files and knowing everything about them before they can tell you their last name. Keep going straight on then make two lefts.”

Merlin continued to drive, silenced by Roxy’s statement. He wanted to argue with her, but he knew that she was right. He rarely left H.Q. or his home and when he did, it was either for missions or to be with Roxy. He didn’t interact with other people that he didn’t already know everything about and that may make Roxy a bit uncomfortable. So… who could it hurt to talk to a couple people for a few hours?

Roxy sighed and shook her head. “I-I’m sorry, Merlin. I just… I just got back from Dubai-”

“I know.” He murmured, remembering the extremely stressful two month mission Roxy had had to endure.

“And… I just wanted to do something with you and my friends, friends that aren’t involved in all of this and I thought… I know it sounds stupid, but I thought it’d be okay to mix these two lives just for once.”

Merlin kept his eyes on the road, but he knew Roxy was watching him. He wasn’t really familiar with her feeling, as it had been many years since he had had a life outside of Kingsman, but he wasn’t about to ruin what made Roxy happy just because he wasn’t familiar with it himself.

“What’s the next direction, Lancelot?”

He couldn’t help but smile a tad when he noted Roxy giving him a thankful look before guiding him the rest of the way.

* * *

Merlin was slowly starting to regret his agreement to come.

The ceremony was easy to handle. He didn’t have to interact with anyone, just sit and watch politely as Roxy’s friend (Veronica, he’s told) get married to the man at her side. He followed Roxy back out to the car and allowed her to guide them to the reception hall. That was where the trouble started.

He soon found himself standing off to the side by the bar. Roxy had gotten herself some fruity concoction before rushing off to talk to the women she hadn’t seen in some time, leaving Merlin to his own devices. Normally, he could handle this, but with no work to distract him, he shifted from foot to foot watching the ice melt into his brandy.

“You’re certainly cheerful.”

Merlin frowned a bit at the voice coming into his ear. “Harry, I swear to fucking God, if you-”

“I will not harm your precious equipment Merlin, I can assure you that I’m not as incompetent as you like to pretend I am,” Harry replied coolly, “My, you seem to be making a lot of friends.”

“I could say the same for you when Eggsy drags you out to meet those old school mates of his.”

“You do say the same, Merlin. I do suppose it comes with the territory is being in a relationship with such an… age difference.”

“Oh, don’t go on about that again, Harry.” Merlin sighed and proceeded to start lecturing Harry quietly about letting go of the fact that he was dating someone younger than him. He was so enthralled in his conversation that he didn’t really consider how he looked to others.

On the other side of the room, Roxy was sitting at one of the tables, catching up with some other friends that she hadn’t seen in quite some time.

“It’s a miracle that you could make it, Roxy,” Veronica beamed when she finally made it around to them, “It’s been so long. You’ve been so busy with that tailor shop you work at.”

Roxy pointed at Veronica with her champagne glass. “And you’ve been so busy with planning all of this and working for the airline. Congrats again, by the way. Mark seems very nice.”

Veronica smiled and looked over to where the groom was chatting with some of the other guests. “He’s amazing.” She said, sighing wistfully as one of the other girls, Carolyn, turned to Roxy with a suggestive look.

“And what about you, Roxy? Any chance we’ll be attending your wedding any time soon?”

Veronica turned back to them and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Rox. You were always so busy at uni and even now you’re working all of the time. You deserve to meet someone great. Have you?”

Roxy opened her mouth to reply, only for one of the bridesmaids to come over, clearly a bit tipsy as she grabbed Veronica and Roxy’s arms.

“Girls,” She slurred a bit, clearly attempting to speak in a hushed tone but failing, “There’s some weird-o here… at the bar.”

“What?” Veronica questioned, looking over the woman’s shoulder to see what she was talking about.

“There’s some weird guy standing at the bar talking to himself. No one knows who he is.” She stated before thumbing over her shoulder. Roxy leaned back in her seat to see who she was pointing to and couldn’t help but snort when she recognized who it was.

“Jesus… he is talking to himself.” Veronica muttered, “I didn’t invite him… did he just wander in?”

Roxy let out a giggle, shaking her head when her friends turned to look at her. “He’s not talking to himself, he just does that when… he’s thinking.” She stated, trying to thinking of a cover for the man as she made eye contact with him and waved for him to join them. The other girls watched in fear as the suspicious character walked over to join the ladies. Roxy stood and wrapped her arm around him when he arrived.

“Veronica, Carolyn, Laurie, this is my boyfriend, Merlin.” She smiled, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Merlin said automatically, holding a hand out to shake. The girls shared a quick glance before each reached to shake his hand.They attempted to not feel intimidated at the sight of the bald man towering over them, but it was impossible. He barely blinked as he stared them down, tone so dark and collected that they couldn’t help but think he could easily step in as a Bond movie villain.

“To you as well…” Veronica managed to squeak out. “So… how do you know our Roxy?”

The group blinked in surprise as the man’s neutral, if cold, expression morphed into one of fondness. “We work together,” he stated, gently taking Roxy’s hand at his arm, “I work primarily in… the books of the tailor shop. Roxy is one of our best sales representatives. We coordinate often.” He stated, using the story the agents had for what they told family and friends that they did.

Roxy smiled and tapped Merlin’s shoulder, leading the man to lean over automatically for her, considering their massive height difference. She put her lips to his ear.

“You’re lucky that those are prescription, otherwise I’d confiscate them. Let me just say goodbye and we’ll head to your place. I have a much better gift for you than what I got for Veronica and Mark.” She murmured, smiling when she sensed his embarrassment as he nodded affirmatively.

“I will leave you all to catch up,” He stated, standing upright, “Congratulations, again. It was a lovely ceremony.” Merlin added before quickly making his exit. Roxy smiled fondly before turning back to the group.

The women stared at Roxy with wide eyes. “He’s…” Carolyn started, unsure of what to say.

“Roxy, I had no idea you had a thing for silver foxes,” Laurie gasped, “Well… I would think he’d be if he wasn’t so…”

“Bald?” Roxy inquired, smile still on her face. “He would be, yes. He’s… he’s quite amazing.” She murmured, watching him return to the bar and order a drink that she knew was for her as she sat down again.

“It’s such a surprise to see you with someone, Roxy,” Veronica admitted, “And with someone so much… older.” She admitted, watching the man carefully, “Rox, if you want, I could introduce you to someone more-”

“My age?” Roxy asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. “Veronica, I appreciate the sentiment, I do. But… I’m really happy with Merlin. Genuinely happy. If you’re worried, he hasn’t pressured me into anything. Hell, I asked him out first. He didn’t want to be the one to do it because he was worried about our working relationship and our age difference. But he’s been nothing but thoughtful and kind and… I really love him.”

“I love you too, Roxy.”

Roxy’s eyes went wide, realizing what her friends were staring at over her shoulder. She turned around to see Merlin standing just behind her with a small smile, holding her drink out to her. She took it from him, letting their fingers brush for a moment. She turned back to the girls, ready to excuse herself.

“I really should get to the other tables.” Veronica said, smiling sweetly at her friend. She pulled her into a hug. “It was lovely seeing you, Roxy. Call me soon, okay?”

Roxy nodded and said goodbye to the others before returning her attention to the man that stood behind her.

“I ought to get you a bell or something.” She murmured with a shy smile, sipping her drink. Merlin hummed in agreement, hands clasped behind his back as he watched her. Roxy set her glass down at the adjacent table before standing up.

“Let’s get my coat and go home. I still have to give you that gift.” She said quietly, reaching to take his hand. Merlin smiled, running his thumb over the top of her hand.

“I did mean what I said. You know that, yes?” He asked, looking down at her as they made for the exit. Roxy looked up at him and nodded, feeling that if her smile were any brighter, Merlin would need a new prescription.

“Yes. I meant it too. I love you, Merlin.”

Merlin pushed the door open, allowing Roxy to pass through. He took her hand again and waited for the door to close behind them before bending down a bit to press a kiss to her lips.

“I love you too, Lancelot.”


End file.
